CLIENT CASE STUDY

Global Pharma Company: Rethinking patient services

Overview

Client Profile
The top 10 global biopharmaceutical company has products in major therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, oncology and neurology.

Regulators, patients and payers are placing greater emphasis on what pharmaceutical companies can offer “beyond the pill” to improve value and patient outcomes. A global pharmaceutical company made considerable investments in patient services, but wanted to further improve patient care and meet patient needs by providing innovative services across therapeutic areas. It collaborated with Accenture to identify services considered “table stakes” from those that would truly differentiate its products in the market. Accenture drew on its primary research and deep experience to create a centralized patient services organization supported by a Center of Excellence and develop a three-to-five-year strategy and road map.

"innovative and integrated patient services will help to improve quality of life, disease management and outcomes"

The team targeted five therapeutic areas where services could offer the most value, assessed the market landscape and key competitors, identified leading practices, recommended a portfolio of innovative services, identified cost efficiency opportunities, and created an action plan to implement and scale the services across therapeutic areas. The company now has a clear direction and business case to validate the investment and demonstrate value to key business stakeholders, along with the economies of scale that will help it operate more efficiently going forward. For patients, the innovative and integrated patient services will help to improve quality of life, disease management and outcomes.

Opportunity

Regulators, patients and benefits managers are increasingly looking at what services pharmaceutical companies offer “beyond the pill” when it comes to regulatory approvals, drug selection, and reimbursement. In response, pharmaceutical companies are seeking new ways to show value and enhance outcomes with patient services that promote access, adherence and disease management. A global pharmaceutical company invested heavily in this area, but found that its services could be more distinctive and scalable to bring value to patients across its portfolios. As this area is set to grow significantly, the company wanted to see what kind of patient services would make its products stand out in the U.S. market and how it could deliver and scale those services more effectively. To develop its patient services strategy and vision, it tapped Accenture’s primary research and deep experience working in this area with other leading pharmaceuticals companies. The company collaborated with Accenture to develop a cross-portfolio patient strategy and services organization with an innovative portfolio of services.

Solution

Together, they targeted five therapeutic areas where improved patient services could have the greatest impact for the company and its patients. The team conducted interviews and surveys with patients, caregivers and physicians about their experiences across the patient journey. A comparison of competitor services highlighted how existing services stack up, as well as potential threats and opportunities. Based on this analysis, the team developed a three-to-five-year patient services strategy and road map, including a patient services Center of Excellence that could scale services across therapeutic areas to maximize the impact to patients in a wide variety of specialty diseases. The team identified nearly 30 new services that could help differentiate key brands and improve outcomes, narrowing them down to 15 “quick wins” covering adherence programs, benefits coverage, call center support, financial assistance and reimbursement support. An additional benchmarking project helped to identify opportunities to reallocate investments in services that would help improve patient outcomes.

Results

The company now has a clear direction and concrete action plans to focus future patient services investment on high-value areas that differentiate its products in the market—and help improve patient outcomes. A business case grounded in benchmarks help validate the investment and demonstrate value to key business stakeholders. New governance processes, KPIs and operating models will help to improve quality, mitigate risk, measure value and lay the foundation to scale services. Its portfolio includes innovative new services that align to the entire patient journey and incorporate connected devices, coordinated service optimization, and service/outcomes analytics. By taking a portfolio approach, the company can gain economies of scale to apply successful services and operational experience across brands and therapeutic areas, helping to lower costs. For patients, the innovative and integrated patient services will help to improve quality of life, disease management and outcomes.

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